The NFL Is Reportedly Considering a 15-Yard Penalty for Teams Whose Players Kneel for the National Anthem
Like it or not, the NFL wants players to STOP kneeling for the National Anthem. That’s a fact. If they were cool with it, Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid wouldn’t be unemployed right now.
But it remains to be seen whether they’ll actually do anything about it.
The NFL owners talked about it at a meeting yesterday, and “Sports Illustrated” says one idea they talked about was this . . .
The home team would decide whether the teams even come out for the anthem . . . and if they do, any players that kneel would earn a 15-yard penalty for their team on its first possession.
Other possibilities include: Allowing each team to implement its own policy . . . clearing the field of all football personnel while the Anthem is played . . . instructing players who don’t want to stand to remain in the locker room . . .
Slapping fines on players who don’t stand . . . adding language in contracts to FORCE them to stand . . . or just leaving the current policy in place.
The league’s current policy is that players “should” stand . . . but they aren’t REQUIRED to do so.
By the way, the owners approved some changes to kickoffs for next season in an effort to make them safer. They’re mostly minor things, like eliminating the running starts for kickoff coverage teams. (You can read more about that, here.)